The operating handles needed for opening and closing of automobile doors are mounted, accessible from outside, on the parts of the body of the automobile and are thus substantially exposed to weather influences and in particular to street dirt. This is particularly true for the operating handles used for operating the tail gate or trunk lid pivotal about a horizontal axis, since here in particular dirt appears due to the vortexes forming at the rear end of the vehicle.
A device for opening and closing of automobile doors has already become known from German OS No. 33 11 111, which is constructed such that the air resistance in the area of the operating handle and the occurring dirt are reduced. This known arrangement consists in the actual door handle being countersunk in a handle recess formed in the body of the automobile, so that the handle in its rest position lies with its outer contour flush with the outer contour of the automobile body. For opening of the door, the door handle is swung out of its handle recess about a vertical axis substantially flush with the automobile body on the one side into a ready position and can then be gripped at the swung-out backside, so that the door can in this manner be pulled open. To better guide the actual handle, support legs are provided which extend through the handle recess to the backside of the automobile body. To close the door, however, this known arrangement requires gripping the outside of the operating handle, so that the here dirty handle comes then into contact with the operating hand. The door handle which lies countersunk in a handle recess swings in the known arrangement about a vertical axis open to the outside. The upper and lower edge of the door handle is, even if it lies in a handle recess, exposed to dirt. This dirt is of no importance during a horizontal opening of the door because one can grip behind the handle without coming into contact with the upper and lower edge of the handle. If this handle would be utilized in the illustrated form for a tail gate, it would be absolutely necessary to grip the upper and lower edge, so that the operator would become dirty.
If this handle would be pivotal about a horizontal axis on the backside of a trunk lid, it would not offer a good handling possibility for the upward movement of the trunk lid or the tail gate. Further, the support legs in the known device are not constructed as handles, but only as guide parts and thus a difficult gripping behind the actual handle would be necessary.
The known arrangement cannot be used for opening of tail gates or trunk lids.
The basic purpose of the invention is to provide a device with which a dirt-free gripping of an operating handle in the area of the tail gate of a vehicle is possible, whereby the tail gate can both be lifted and also pulled downwardly without the hand coming into contact with the dirty automobile body.
The invention suggests a handle, the handle part of which, thus its area which is gripped by the hand, is completely moved back into an opening in the wall of the automobile body in the nonuse position, whereby in the moved-out position the handle part can be gripped from all sides, so that thus an upward or downward movement of the associated door, for example of the trunk lid, is possible. The handle part can be constructed as a swingable bar, which can be guided to the outside through a suitable opening in the wall of the automobile body, or it can be constructed as a pin movable parallel to itself (for example in connection with the locking cylinder of a lock), whereby furthermore the opening, through which the handle part is guided into the wall of the automobile body, can be closed off by an end plate, so that dirt penetration toward the inside of the automobile body is avoided.
The handle part can be combined with a lock. However, it is also possible for the locking mechanism to be independent from the handle part. As this is already known in motor vehicles, the handle part, independent from the operation of a lock, can be guided in a mechanical manner from a rest position into a ready position, if desired automatically. These mechanical devices can thereby also be operated from the inside of the vehicle. The handle part can hereby furthermore at the same time create the lock to the body of the automobile, so that the door is locked in the rest position of the handle part, however, the door or the tail gate can be opened in the ready position of the handle part. All of these measures can also be carried out in connection with a lock.
A problem which has existed for many years and in practice is again and again found to be undesirable is solved with the inventive suggestion, namely with the simplest means, which without great difficulties can also be realized in existing motor vehicles without that basic changes in the design of the body of the automobile are needed.